CFP: Finding the OX: Buddhism and American Culture (7/1/04; collection)

full name / name of organization:

John Whalen-Bridge

contact email:

elljwb@nus.edu.sg

CALL FOR PAPERS: Finding the OX: Buddhism and American Culture (7/1/04)

The editors invite proposals of essays for a book on Buddhism andAmerican culture. Aimed at a readership across a wide range ofdisciplines, Finding the Ox: Buddhism in American Culture will collectessays that test and play with disciplinary boundaries between LiteraryStudies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Cultural Studies, Gender Studiesand Queer Theory. The proposed papers engage theoretical problems, offerclose readings of specific texts, or (most fruitfully) groundspeculative debates within the practice of mindful reading. Specificessays in the volume may consider:

* the nature of the "Buddhist text"-what it might be forpracticing Buddhists, and what is it for various kinds of westerncultural consumers;

* the Buddha boom in Popular Film (e.g., discussions ofHollywood's cultural adaptations of Asian religious and philosophicalmotifs);

* questions of colonialism and orientalism in western culturalrepresentations and appropriates of Asian religions, and also thepossibilities of resistance to colonialism and orientalism withinwestern Buddhist and Buddhist-inspired texts;

* discussions of how Buddhist and Hindu terminology (karma,dharma, koan, and so forth) travels west, and how meanings alter or donot alter through travel;

* subdivisions within American Buddhism (e.g., comparativeapproaches to Theravadan and Mahayanist contributions to Americanbelletristic literature;

* American psychological trends (e.g. Buddhist influences on orparallels with the cognitive psychology research of Aaron Beck, the"positive psychology" of Marvin Levine and Martin Seligman, or the"Flow" of Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi);

* finally, "no self" in relation to American identity politics,1950-2000.

The editors conceive of "culture" and "literature" in the widestpossible senses and invite proposals for intellectually adventurous,substantial essays. Please submit, in electronic format in MS Word, a300-word abstract and a two-page CV to (gary.storhoff_at_uconn.edu<mailto:gary.storhoff_at_uconn.edu > ) and (elljwb_at_nus.edu.sg)<mailto:elljwb_at_nus.edu.sg) >. Deadline for proposals: July 1, 2004. Forcompleted articles: March 30, 2005. Completed articles will be3,000-6,500 words long, including all notes and bibliographical. Theeditors are in contact with a major university press and hope to have acontract as soon after we have collected proposals.